Washington Informer
Entertainment Archive (198)
Around your house, time is precious. While it’s true that you’ve got home appliances your great-grandma only dreamed about – an automatic washer and dryer, a microwave, a water heater, an automatic coffee maker, and a cookstove that doesn’t require wood to work – you still can’t manage to sit down for 10 minutes without thinking of 10 things that need doing.
Hundreds of Barry Farm residents lined up to receive holiday turkeys compliments of NBA player Josh Howard and Cricket Communications on Mon., Nov. 15. Courtesy PhotoWashington Wizards’ 6-foot-7-inch forward, Josh Howard, teamed up with Cricket Communications Inc. and WKYS 93.9 to pass out 500 turkeys to District residents and to kick off this year’s Thanksgiving celebration early. The music of Chuck Brown and Cali Swag District bumped in the background as many residents cut loose and rapped with their friends.
Millions of black women find themselves in the very challenging position of raising a son on their own. Raising Him Alone is a valuable resource designed to help single mothers to successfully face the challenge. It is written by two men that are passionate about empowering youths today and dedicated to helping young people succeed.
David Miller is Co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of the Urban Leadership Institute, an enterprise that focuses on creating positive youth development strategies. Miller has a background in education and has authored several books. Matthew Stevens is the Founder of Empower Today’s Youth, which provides youth with tools to make healthy life decisions. Stevens is also a presenter, youth counselor and freshman college advisor. Miller and Stevens have brought their experience together to create Raising Him Alone.
David Miller is Co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer of the Urban Leadership Institute, an enterprise that focuses on creating positive youth development strategies. Miller has a background in education and has authored several books. Matthew Stevens is the Founder of Empower Today’s Youth, which provides youth with tools to make healthy life decisions. Stevens is also a presenter, youth counselor and freshman college advisor. Miller and Stevens have brought their experience together to create Raising Him Alone.
And Other Things The Media Won’t Tell You
The web was on fire recently after a survey on marriage and family was released. The survey which was conducted by the Pew Research Center and Time Magazine was based on interviews with 2,691 adults done by cell phone or landline during the month of October. An Associated Press article that was picked up nationwide blasted, “4 Out of 10 Americans Say Marriage Is Obsolete!”
The web was on fire recently after a survey on marriage and family was released. The survey which was conducted by the Pew Research Center and Time Magazine was based on interviews with 2,691 adults done by cell phone or landline during the month of October. An Associated Press article that was picked up nationwide blasted, “4 Out of 10 Americans Say Marriage Is Obsolete!”
Special offer for Ford’s Theatre patrons
B. Smith’s Restaurant in historic Union Station has been named Ford’s Theatre newest preferred restaurant, celebrating the culture and fine arts of Washington, D.C.
Each month, through the remainder of November, theater patrons will receive a free appetizer when presenting their tickets (or proof of purchase) to see A Christmas Carol, playing at Ford’s Theatre. Throughout December, theater guests will receive a free dessert when presenting their tickets or proof of purchase.
B. Smith’s Restaurant in historic Union Station has been named Ford’s Theatre newest preferred restaurant, celebrating the culture and fine arts of Washington, D.C.
Each month, through the remainder of November, theater patrons will receive a free appetizer when presenting their tickets (or proof of purchase) to see A Christmas Carol, playing at Ford’s Theatre. Throughout December, theater guests will receive a free dessert when presenting their tickets or proof of purchase.
Roles for Black actresses as tough, but also feminine, like Angela Bassett’s portrayal of Loretta ‘Mace’ Mason in the 1998 action film Strange Days, are few and far between Courtesy PhotoFew Americans understand what they consume through media, but there is a reason why television commercials that depict loud, Black women peddling household cleaners and (wait for it), chicken as modern-day Mammies have returned. It is against a backdrop of statistics that Black women are graduating with advanced degrees and opting for children without marriage to Black men, that Mammy, and a host of doppelganger images has evolved. During my drive home it became clear that the Black Women’s Club movement had moved on. Where in the world is bell hooks? The social critic knows that it is not the images of Black people that create the discourse, but our interpretations of those images.
Local designer Tashia Senn, strolls down the catwalk with one of her model’s during The Cinderella Foundation's fundraiser on Sun., Nov. 14 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Southwest. Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah.Designers included Amsale Abberra, Korto Momolu, Carol Hannah Whitfield, Jerell Scott and Reco Chapple. Other notable designers will include KAS Collection Inc., Tashia Senn, and Belafigura.
There were performances by the Ailey Fordham BFA Dancers, a private VIP open bar jazz lounge reception with saxophonist Brian Lenair, a live and silent auction, a personal fashion consultation, and an online shopping suite.
A model works the catwalk in local designer Tashia Senn’s evening gown during a fundraiser on Sun., Nov. 14 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Southwest. Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah.
E. Roger Mitchell as Brother, Crystal Fox as Missionary and Eugene Lee as Elder in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production of every tongue confess November 9, 2010-January 2, 2011.Photo by Joan Marcus.The $135 million makeover of the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, complete with mahogany wall treatments, hip-friendly seats, and three distinct theater spaces under one roof, proved however, to be the perfect venue to showcase Marcus Gardley’s, every tongue confess.
The premiere of the play, staged in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, provides a great venue for audiences. The intimate atmosphere coupled with the cocoon-like design makes guests feel as if they’re on stage with the actors.
Autumn Hurlbert as Benny Pride and Phylicia Rashad as Mother Sister in the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production of every tongue confess November 9, 2010-January 2, 2011. Photo by Joan Marcus.(formerly of The Cosby Show) back to the stage as the spiritually gifted Mother Sister, a decade after her performance in Charles Randolph-Wright’s Blue.
In the backwater town of Boligee, Ala., the temperatures are steadily rising. It’s the summer of 1996 and townsfolk are being driven to distraction and are conjuring spirits of the past to walk the earth. At the same time, African-American churches throughout the South are being burned to the ground. Woven within the tapestry of the scorching heat and the blazing fires are stories that lie trapped within the bosoms of the people who live there.
Gardley blends what some label “ancient realism” with Biblical allegory and the news headlines surrounding the real case, to uncover the hidden truth behind the fires and denizens of Boligee. Gardley succeeds at introducing Southern realism, with all of its rumor and fantasy intact, to audiences. The cycles of the moon and mysticism operate in day-to-day life, including the church. Strangers and
ghosts appear and disappear and become as worrisome to Boligee as the real people.
The setting is changed quickly by the addition and removal of clothing
and props in fluid motions that maintain the play’s fast pace. Some actors portray dual roles and shift seamlessly from one character to the next without hesitation or flaw.
Stellar performances were given by the entire ensemble, including Jason Dirden (Shadrack), Jim Ireland (Stoker Pride), Leslie Kritzer (Bernadette), Eugene Lee (Elder/ Jeremiah), E. Roger Mitchell (Brother/Bobby), and Jonathan Earl Peck (Blacksmith).
While I most looked forward to Rashad teaming up with Crystal Fox (In the Heat of the Night) again after their dynamic performance in The Old Settler, most of Rashad’s fractious interactions occurred with Autumn Hurlbert (Benny Pride).
Nonetheless, the acting is superb and the Southern gospel performances – strictly acapella – create a “must see” show that is enhanced by a totally new space.
“The birth of a new theater space is cause for major celebration,” said Arena Stage’s Artistic Director Molly Smith. “The inauguration of the Kogod Cradle, as a theater created for new works, needed to be a premiere. Marcus Gardley is a young writer who is a theater poet, who writes plays that are epic and intimate at the same time. The first project that is created in a new theater will always be remembered, and every tongue confess is that play.”
The play, every tongue confess runs through January 2 at the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Southwest.
Visit www.arenastage.org for ticket information.
Published in
Entertainment Archive
Written by By Shantella Y. Sherman and James Wright - WI Staff Writers
Written by By Shantella Y. Sherman and James Wright - WI Staff Writers
If you’re an African American in business, that’s no conundrum. You know the room well, even though the entry password often changes mid-game. But according to authors Randal Pinkett and Jeffrey Robinson, you can empower yourself to achieve success in any (board)room, and you can pave the way for others while doing it. In their new book “Black Faces in White Places (with Philana Patterson), they explain.
TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING,
BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.
I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS,
I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.
THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED,
THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE,
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION
WTH ALL OF MY MIGHT
TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION,
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.
SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.
I GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.
I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.
I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING,
FLOATING INTO THE SKY
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING
AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.
BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES . . .
HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.
MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP,
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER
STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.
May Your Thanksgiving Be Blessed..ENJOY!
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